Thiruvananthapuram: A video of Kerala Police personnel dancing to the tune of a hit title track of a Malayalam film for highlighting the importance of washing hands to keep off the deadly coronavirus has gone viral on the social media.
In the short video, six policemen, wearing masks, are seen matching their steps to the song from the hit film "Ayyappan Koshiyum" starring Prithviraj and Biju Menon and sung by 60-year-old tribal woman Nanjamma in her earthy voice.
Promoting Break the chain campaign, the video ends with the performers giving the viewers a thumbs-up after the dance.
The video, the brainchild of state Police Media Centre Deputy Director V P Pramod and his team, has been shared by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on his twitter page and Finance Minister Thomas Isaac on Facebook and received wide appreciation.
Around 28 lakh people have viewed and 38,000 have shared the video, said adding he and his nine-member team came out with the clip in four hours.
"We were planning to do some awareness videos for COVID19 when one of the cops suggested the dance. We wondered if we could dance... But the members of our team decided on the steps and the song and within four hours the clip was ready and uploaded", Pramod told PTI.
The entire work related to the video was done by the media centre.
The video has also been shared by the International media, including the BBC, Italian and Russian channels, he said.
They were also planning to post awareness posts on COVID19 on the social media.
Kerala has reported 25 positive cases for coronavirus till Thursday and over 30,000 are under surveillance.
The LDF government has announced a Rs 20,000 crore financial package to tide over the present crisis in the wake of the virus outbreak.
(With inputs from PTI)